Soup – Album
Confusing name/title? I think Soup is the band and the album is called Album. What else? Soup are Andy Whitaker and Oz Cooper. Whitaker is perhaps best known for his time in The Sun And The Moon plus regular readers will recall that we covered his solo album Things That Happened On Earth a year ago. Cooper was involved with Paris Angels reunion. Neither Cooper nor Whitaker are a household name, save for a few clued up areas of Lancashire. This can often lead to low expectations. Well, friend, you’re in for a big surprise. Album is wonderful.
Whitaker and Cooper toyed with the idea of naming this new act Primordial Soup after a song from Whitakers last record. It was rejected on the basis of sounding like a Prog rock band. That may have been a wise move. Not wishing to give people the wrong idea because Album isn’t progressive with a capital P. Psychedelic in places, yes. I would describe it more as a fusion of late 80s ‘baggy’ and reflective Britpop. Whitaker is a melodist, first and foremost and the songwriting really shines through here. ‘Colour Coded’ has a Beatlesque, eastern vibe. ‘The Author’ recalls Inspiral Carpets and ‘Hope For The Working Classes’ is a perfect marriage of Merseybeat and dreampop. By the time we reach the middle of this collection the penny starts to drop that this is a ridiculously strong set of songs.
Not ‘Prog’ then but even the word Soup is very misleading in itself. This is much more than a mere melting pot of musical ideas. Album is focused, stylish and the bottom line is it’s really good. File somewhere between Shack and Stone Roses (clever, huh) only you won’t, not just yet. This one will be off the shelf for a quite a while, getting played.
On repeat.
Album is available now, digitally on iTunes as well as a limited physical run of CDs. Find out more via Andys Facebook page.